Shearing apparatus with gauge stops



Oct. 18, 1966 R. F. GIORDANO 3,279,293

SHEARING APPARATUS WITH GAUGE STOPS Original Filed June 4. 1963 2Sheets-Sheet 1 AL/A- 1956 R. F. GIORDANO 3,279,293

SHEARING APPARATUS WITH GAUGE STOPS Original Filed June 4, 1963 2Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent SHEARING APPARATUS WITH GAUGE STOPSRoger F. Giordano, 2 Rue Pasteur, Deuil-la-Barre, France Originalapplication June 4, 1963, Ser. No. 285,260. Di-

vided and this application Mar. 8, 1966, Ser. No.

532,770 Claims priority, application France, June 8, 1962, 900,165;

June 14, 1962, 900,719; Mar. 29, 1963, 929,738 Claims. (Cl. 83467) Thepresent application is a divisional application of the copendingapplication filed June 4, 1963, with the Serial No. 285,260.

The present invention relates to sheet metal working apparatus such asshearing apparatus or the like for shearing plate material or sheetmetal or for acting on such material along a predetermined working line.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a shearing apparatusor the like having adjustable back stops located adjacent a pair ofshearing blades, that is a fixed lower and a movable upper blade so thata plate to be cut can be located in a selected position relative to theshear blades. The adjustable stops which properly position the materialto be cut relative to the cutting edges of the shearing apparatus mayeither be fastened in adjustable position onto the frame of the shearingapparatus, or the stops may also be fastened onto the plate material tobe sheared to be subsequently brought in abutment with abutment means onthe shearing apparatus so as to properly locate the plate material to besheared with respect to the shearing blades.

The present invention relates more specifically to stops or gauges whichcan be fixed in proper position on the material to be sheared so as toproperly locate the material to be sheared in the shearing apparatusrelative to the shearing blades.

It is .an object of the present invention to provide for stops or gaugeswhich can be easily fixed to the material to be sheared and by means ofwhich the material to be sheared can be properly positioned in theshearing apparatus so that the shear blades will cut the material alonga predetermined working line.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide for suchpositioning gauges which are constructed in such a manner that the gaugewhen attached to the material to be cut will not interfere with thecutting operation.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide for suchgauges which can be positioned relative to a working line marked on thematerial to be cut in very efiicient manner.

With these objects in view, the present invention mainly comprises anarrangement including a sheet metal working apparatus having anelongated member having a working face to be aligned with a working lineof a sheet metal member to be worked on so that the movable member mayengage the sheet metal along the working line, and abutment meanssubstantially parallel to the working face and spaced a given distancefrom the latter, and at least one gauge for facilitating alignment ofthe working face of the movable member with the working line of thesheet metal member. The gauge itself preferably comprises a body havingan abutment face adapted to abut against said abutment means of thesheet metal working apparatus, a gauge arm having a free end and beingmounted on the body movable between an active aligning position in whichthe free end is spaced in a direction normal to the working line saidgiven distance from the abutment face and an inactive position, andmeans for clamping the body to an edge portion of the sheet metaltransverse to the working line in a position so that the free end of thegauge arm in the active position of the latter is located at theaforementioned working line of the sheet metal member, whereby theworking face of the movable member may be aligned with the working lineof the sheet metal member by placing the abutment face of the gauge inabutment with the abutment means on the apparatus and the gauge arm maythen be moved to an inactive position so that the gauge arm will notinterfere with the movable member while the latter acts on the sheetmetal.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross sectional view taken along the line I-I ofFIG. 2 and showing the shearing apparatus as well as two stop gaugesapplied to a plate member to be sheared;'

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view drawn to an enlarged scale and illustrating a gaugeaccording to the present invention applied to a plate member; and

FIG. 4 is a cross section taken along the line IV-1V of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings and more specifically to FIGS. 1 and 2, itwill be seen that the shearing apparatus schematically illustrated inthese two .figures, comprises a frame 1 having an upper movable apron 2on which upper movable shearing blade 3 is mounted and a lowerstationary apron 4 on which the lower stationary shearing blade 5 ismounted. The upper apron 2 and the shearing blade 3 mounted thereon aremovable by means known in the art and not illustrated in the drawing sothat the upper shearing blade 3 may be moved from the open positionshown in FIG. 1 to a cut-ting position in which the cutting edge of theupper shearing blade 3 cuts through a plate or sheet metal member 6placed between the edges of the shearings blades when the latter are inthe open position.

In order to properly align the plate or sheet metal member 6 with thecutting edges of the shearing blades 3 and 5, at least one, butpreferably two gauges 7, the construction of which will be describedlater on in detail, are clamped to opposite edge portions of the plateor sheet material 6 in such a manner that the free ends of the gaugearms 8 provided on each gauge are aligned with a working line 16 markedon the plate or sheet metal member 6 along which the plate has to becut.

Each of the gauges 7 comprises, as best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, asubstantially cylindrical hollow body 10 closed at the top and formed atone side thereof with a transverse slot 10' extending from the outersurface of the body 10 into the central bore thereof so that the edgeportion of a sheet metal or plate member 6 may be inserted into the slotA pair of clamping jaws 11 and 13 are located in the interior of thehollow body 10 so that the latter may be clamped onto an edge portion ofa plate member 6 extending through the slot 10' in the body. The upperclamping jaw 13 is preferably stationary and may be fixed to the bodyfor instance by a dowel pin as shown in FIG. 4, whereas the lowerclamping jaw 11 is slidably guided in the central bore of the body 10and formed with a central threaded bore in which the screw thread of atightening screw 12 extending through the upper end of the body into thelatter is threadingly engaged so that by turning of the screw 12 in onedirection the lower clamping jaw 11 may be moved relative to the upperstationary clamping jaw to clamp thereby the edge portion of the plate 6tightly between the opposite faces of the clamping jaws 11 and 13. Thebody 10 is preferably provided at the upper end thereof with a pair ofwings 14 and 15 so that the body 10 may be held stationarily while thescrew 12 is tightened. The body 10 has preferably a lower portion of alarger diameter than an upper portion thereof to form at the upper endof the lower portion an annular shoulder face on which the bottom faceof a ring 17 located about the upper portion of the body rests. The ring17 may be held against displacement in upward direction by a snap ring18 located in a groove of the body and engaging the upper face of thering. A gauge arm 8 fixed to the ring 17 projects in substantial radialdirection therefrom and the gauge arm 8 has a free end face 8a adaptedto be aligned with the working line 16 marked on the plate or sheetmetal member 6. The free end 8a of the gauge arm 8 is spaced from theperipheral surface of the lower portion of the body 10 a distance which,as can be ascertained from FIG. 1, is equal to the distance E, that isthe distance the front face of the stationary apron a is spaced from thecutting edge of the stationary blade 5.

The arangement above described is used as follows:

The working line 16 along which the plate member or sheet metal member 6has to be cut by the shearing apparatus is preferably marked on theplate 6 and the two gauges 7 are then clamped on opposite edges of theplate in such a manner that the free ends 8a of the gauge arms 8, whilethe arms extend substantially normal to the marked line 16, are locatedon the line 16 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The two gauges are thenclamped in position on the opposite edge portions of the plate 6 bytightening the screws 12 and the plate member 6 with the gauges fixed toopposite edge portions thereof is then placed between the open shearblades in such a manner that the lower portions of the gauge bodies 10will abut, as shown in FIG. 1, against the front face 4a of the lowerapron 4 which forms an abutment means. The plate 6 is then preferablyclamped in position by a hydraulic jack 9 of known construction providedon the shearing apparatus while the gauges 7 are maintained in abuttingrelationship against the front face 4a of the lower apron 4.Subsequently thereto the gauge arms 8 are turned from the activealigning position shown in full lines in FIG. 3 through an angle of forinstance 90 to the inactive position, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3,and then the shearing apparatus is actuated so that the upper shearingblade 3 cuts through the properly located plate 6. After the cut isperformed the upper blade 3 will return to its open position as shown inFIG. 1 and the above-described operations are repeated for the next cut.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofsheet metal working apparatus differing from the types described above.

For instance the above described gauges may also be used not only incombination with shearing apparatus as described above but also incombination with sheet metal bending apparatus or similar apparatus inwhich a sheet metal or similar material is worked on a predeterminedworking line.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in ashearing apparatus, it is not intended to be limited to the detailsshown, since various modifications and structural changes may be madewithout departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An arrangement of the character described comprising a sheet metalworking apparatus having an elongated movable member having a workingface to be aligned with a working line of a sheet metal member to beworked on so that said movable member may engage the sheet metal memberalong said working line, and abutment means substantially parallel tosaid working face and spaced a given distance from the latter; and atleast one gauge for facilitating alignment of said working face of saidmovable member with the working line of the sheet metal member, saidgauge comprising a body having an abutment face adapted to abut againstsaid abutment means of said apparatus, a gauge arm having a free end andbeing mounted on said body movable between an active aligning positionin which the free end is spaced in a direction normal to the workingline said given distance from said abutment face, and an inactiveposition; and means for clamping said body to an edge portion of saidsheet metal member transverse to said working line in a position so thatsaid free end of the gauge arm in said active position of the latter islocated at said working line of said sheet metal member, whereby theworking face of said movable member may be aligned with said workingline of the sheet metal member by placing said abutment face of saidgauge in abutment with said abutment means on said apparatus and saidgauge arm then be moved to said inactive position so that the gauge armwill not interfere with the movable member while the latter acts on thesheet metal member.

2. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said gauge arm ismounted on said body turnable about an axis.

3. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said gauge arm ismounted on said body turnable about an axis substantially normal to saidsheet metal member on which it is clamped.

4. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said body is formedwith a transverse slot adapted to receive the edge portion of the sheetmetal member, and wherein said clamping means are arranged within saidbody.

5. An arrangement as set forth in claim 4, wherein said body is hollowand closed at one end thereof, and wherein said clamping means comprisea fixed jaw abutting against said closed end of said body, a movable jawformed with a threaded bore, and an operating screw extending through anopening in said closed end of said body and being threadingly engaged insaid threaded bore.

6. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said body is asubstantially cylindrical body, and wherein said gauge arm is mounted inthe region of one end thereof turnable about the axis of saidcylindrical body.

7. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said body is asubstantially cylindrical body having a lower portion of a largerdiameter than an upper portion thereof so as to form an annular shoulderface at the upper end of said lower portion, and including a ringsurrounding said upper portion of the body and having a bottom faceabutting against said shoulder face, said gauge arm being fixed to saidring projecting in substantial radial direction therefrom.

8. An arrangement as set forth in claim 5, wherein said hollow body hasa lower cylindrical portion of larger diameter than an upper portionthereof so as to form an annular shoulder face on the upper end of thelower portion and including a ring member surrounding said upper portionof said body and having a bottom face abutting again at said shoulderface, said gauge arm being fixed to said ring projecting in substantialradial direction therefrom.

9. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1 and including a second gaugeof the same construction as said one 15 10. An arrangement as set forthin claim 1, wherein said sheet metal working apparatus is a shearingapparatus having a stationary blade and a movable blade forming saidelongated movable member, and wherein said abutment means is formed byan apron supporting said stationary blade.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,026,145 12/1935Taylor 83522 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,035,448 7/ 1958 Germany.

ANDREW R. J UHASZ, Primary Examiner.

1. AN ARRANGEMENT OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING A SHEET METALWORKING APPARATUS HAVING AN ELONGATED MOVABLE MEMBER HAVING A WORKINGFACE TO BE ALIGNED WITH A WORKING LINE OF A SHEET METAL MEMBER TO BEWORKED ON SO THAT SAID MOVABLE MEMBER MAY ENGAGE THE SHEET METAL MEMBERALONG SAID WORKING LINE, AND ABUTMENT MEANS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TOSAID WORKING FACE AND SPACED A GIVEN DISTANCE FROM THE LATTER; AND ATLEAST ONE GAUGE FOR FACILITATING ALIGNMENT OF SAID WORKING FACE OF SAIDMOVABLE MEMBER WITH THE WORKING LINE OF THE SHEET METAL MEMBER, SAIDGAUGE COMPRISING A BODY HAVING AN ABUTMENT FACE ADAPTED TO ABUT AGAINSTSAID ABUTMENT MEANS OF SAID APPARATUS, A GUAGE ARM HAVING A FREE END ANDBEING MOUNTED ON SAID BODY MOVABLE BETWEEN AN ACTIVE ALIGNING POSITIONIN WHICH THE FREE END IS SPACED IN A DIRECTION NORMAL TO THE WORKINGLINE AND GIVEN DISTANCE FROM SAID ABUTMENT FACE, AND AN INACTIVEPOSITION; AND MEANS FOR CLAMPING SAID BODY TO AN EDGE PORTION OF SAIDSHEET METAL MEMBER TRANSVERSE TO SAID WORKING LINE IN A POSITION SO THATSAID FREE END OF THE GAUGE ARM IN SAID ACTIVE POSITION OF THE LATTER ISLOCATED AT SAID WORKING LINE OF SAID SHEET METAL MEMBER, WHEREBY THEWORKING FACE OF SAID MOVABLE MEMBER MAY BE ALIGNED WITH SAID WORKINGLINE OF THE SHEET METAL MEMBER BY PLACING SAID ABUTMENT FACE OF SAIDGAUGE IN ABUTMENT WITH SAID ABUTMENT MEANS ON SAID APPARATUS AND SAIDGUAGE ARM THEN BE MOVED TO SAID INACTIVE POSITION SO THAT THE GAUGE ARMWILL NOT INTERFERE WITH THE MOVABLE MEMBER WHILE THE LATTER ACTS ON THESHEET METAL MEMBER.